Study of 59,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Tooth Shows Evidence of Dentistry Work

Neanderthals, often depicted in cartoons as primitive cavemen waving wooden clubs and communicating via guttural sounds, may in fact have been Earth’s first dentists, a new study indicates.A 59,000-year-old molar tells the story of an ancient human relative experiencing pain, identifying the source of the pain, and trusting someone in his prehistoric community to carry out an excruciating procedure using a sharp stone tool to drill a hole in his tooth — without any kind of numbing medication — with the hope that it would alleviate the suffering.A group of American and Russian researchers at universities published a study in PLOS One on Wednesday that examined a tooth found in Chagyrskaya Cave in southwestern Siberia, which shows evidence of dentistry work. That would push back the earliest evidence of dentistry work by roughly 45,000 years. The tooth, a molar, features a circular drill hole, which researchers say can only be a sign of dental work. The molar has evidence that the enamel had worn off, and that a cavity had reached the pulp chamber of the tooth, which helps the tooth to sense cold, heat, or pain.On the surface of the molar, researchers found V-shaped microgrooves, which they say show evidence of a drilling motion. The team behind the study notes that existing research has found that Neanderthals had an understanding of their environment and diet, and also the ability to care for one another and perform some medical procedures.But they say the tooth provides new details about their intellect as it “indicates that the Chagyrskaya Cave Neanderthals possessed the cognitive capacity to intuit the source of pain, comprehend the feasibility of its elimination, and deliberately select the most efficacious dental intervention.”“These patterns bring Neanderthal behavior closer to modern humans and differentiate that behavior from the instinctive actions of other primates,” the study said. Researchers also found “pronounced toothpick grooving” on the tooth, which shows evidence of a “multifaceted approach” to dealing with health issues.

Study of 59,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Tooth Shows Evidence of Dentistry Work

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